Glasses are delicate, both literally and metaphorically. Recent studies from the National Health Institute suggest that over 63% of Americans require a reading aid after the age of eighteen. In addition to this fraction of Americans, over 16% wear contact lenses rather than glasses regularly. This is largely due to the convenience of wearing contact lenses versus the relative hassle of wearing eyeglasses. Another factor is the order of the various pieces of eyewear.
While contact lenses often only require one measurement and allow you to order replacements online, eyeglasses have traditionally been more difficult to acquire. You have to go into a physical store and get measurements retaken regularly. However, in today's day and age, this has been made all the simpler, and you can now get glasses online just as easily as contacts.
At first glance, contact lenses might seem superior to glasses in just about every way. Contact lenses are simply applied to one's eye and left there, augmenting one's vision for the better and aiding you with hyper-specific, medically tailored measurements to enhance your specific vision and compensate for your particular stigmatism. Contact lenses have been specially designed to improve vision for your eyes, not for anyone else's. While glasses have aided those with vision problems for centuries, they do not offer the kind of bespoke customization nor the scientifically-aided tailoring of contact lenses.
Historically, one of the earliest known recordings of spectacles being worn on one's eyes to assist with impeded vision was in 1284 in Italy, when Salvino D'Armate forged lenses of glass or crystal that one could utilize with handles attached to the side. While this is seen as an early outlier in the history of it all, by the 1700s and 1800s, glasses were everywhere and made out of everything. Various materials, such as gold, silver, and leather, were all used to produce eyeglasses during these eras. Multiple makers were expected to utilize different styles, often customizing or even bejeweling the metal frames and lenses.
Conversely, the first contact lenses became a reality much later. Despite Leonardo da Vinci forming a plan to build a contact lens-esque device to improve one's eyesight as far back as 1508, one of the earliest instances of an actual contact lens was in 1801, in Britain. That was when scientist John Young built a glass contact lens filled with water to account for the distortion of one's eye, which was attached via wax. Officially speaking, the invention of contact lenses as we know them is often credited to French optician Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick in 1888.
Ultimately, many factors go into deciding whether one is better suited to eyeglasses or contact lenses. Fortunately, while centuries ago, people had difficulty acquiring glasses or eyewear for the betterment of their vision, things are now easier, simpler, and more convenient than ever for modern users when it comes to getting the eyewear you need.
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